A blog about food, focusing on vegan cooking for one person (or two small eaters).

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Monday, March 16, 2015

Squashy Stir-Fry for One

This one might be called “Kitchen Sink Stir Fry” because it
uses up a lot of loose ends in the kitchen. You don’t have to use the same
ingredients that I used—raid your own pantry and fridge! Also, this recipe
doesn’t demand Chinese Five Spice or Soy Sauce, so it has a lighter flavor than
most stir fries. You can add those things, of course, if you want them.

1-2
TBLSP olive oil

1
1-inch slab of celeriac (celery root), cubed

1
2-inch chunk of squash or sweet potato, cubed (I used kobucha)

½
a parsnip, cubed

2
slices of yellow onion, diced

¼
small fennel bulb, diced

½
leek, julienned

2
mushrooms, halved and sliced thinly

1/3
cup peas (raw or cooked, doesn’t matter)

1/3
cube of extra firm tofu, in small cubes (about 1/3 cup)

1-inch
fresh ginger, peeled and diced finely

1
clove garlic, peeled and diced finely

1-2
TBLSP sesame oil

1
cup fresh spinach

Sesame
seeds for garnish

In a frying pan or wok, heat the oil, and stir fry the
firmer veggies (celeriac, squash, parsnip, and onion) on high heat for 5-7
minutes, until they start to soften.

Add in the fennel, leek, mushrooms, peas, tofu, ginger, and
garlic, and continue to stir fry until everything softens, about 5 minutes.

Drizzle the sesame oil over the top of everything and give it
another stir. Put the spinach on top of everything, and turn it over so that
the spinach gets mixed in nicely. Your meal is done when the spinach has
started to wilt.

Sprinkle the sesame seeds on top for garnish

I like this served over rice or noodles, but there’s no
reason not to go it plain!

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About Me

I've been a vegetarian in some form or other since I was a teenager. I never liked meat (especially red meat), and I won the battle with my mother when I was 17. Now, back then, you have to realize, it was hard to get tofu or other non-animal proteins in a regular grocery store, so although my general health improved (I stopped getting colds and flus, and I gained enough weight to stop looking like a holocaust survivor), I started having digestive problems.

Western doctors knew even less about nutrition than they know now, Mine suggested that I eat chicken or fish about twice a month to keep my body's own enzymes and acids to a decent level, and then stress wouldn't send me into such a miserable zoo of pain. So I did it. It worked pretty well for quite a while. But in 2006, I went vegan, now that it's easy enough to get non-animal proteins.

Now I'm starting a third blog, on vegan cooking for one (or two). It started with coming home from rehearsal and wanting just one cookie. But then it got fun--what else could I make that didn't involve leftovers, or, in the case of baked goods, guilt for eating the whole batch. And I thought I'd share this collection of recipes that I've accumulated.